Protecting Michigan State's Material Culture
One of the most exciting things about archaeology is that you never know what you’ll find until you start digging, and sometimes you don’t know what you find when you find it, and that is exactly the case with this discovery. While digging the shovel test …
Hello, my name is Josie Cowles and I am a junior here at MSU currently working with the MSU Campus Archaeology Program (CAP) to excavate the old MSU observatory. The foundation was found by the CAP crew in May of 2023, and has been the …
Hi, my name is Katie Simonson and I am one of the students taking part in the 2024 field school, where we are working on the site of the original observatory here on MSU’s campus. Part of the foundations were found earlier in May of 2023 by CAP, so we are expanding on the work already done. Our field school started on the 28th of May this year, and we went over the history of the site, safety, and got to know our team. We continued this on the next morning, but after that we began the pedestrian survey of the site.
A pedestrian survey is when we walk along the surface of the site to find artifacts on the surface. Since the site is in an area where many people occupy, that means the surface has been very disturbed since the time of the site and it is unlikely we would find any historic artifacts, but it is still important to look. We all walked along a transect, a straight line across the site, that was spaced out a meter apart, and flagged any artifacts we saw. Since the majority of us have never done a pedestrian survey before, we decided to flag all man made objects as practice. After we flagged the objects, we would map their position, take a picture of it, and describe the object using a program called KoboToolbox. If we found anything possibly historic then we put in an artifact bag, otherwise we would dispose of it.
As we predicted, we didn’t find many artifacts that could be historic. We found lots of modern trash including plastic wrappers, cardboard, paper cups, and cans. We also found a rodent bone. Some of the things we found were not historical but still interesting, so were kept by some of us for our own use. For example, I kept a broken cd and a beaded chain to make into a suncatcher. We did find some objects that could possibly be historic, such as pieces from glass vessels, metal bottle caps, and some pieces which were most likely from a dining hall plate. These were bagged for further analysis later.
The pedestrian survey might not have given us much insight into the history of the site, but it did allow us to become familiar with the area and the process of surface survey. On other sites which are less disturbed by modern human activity, it would be more likely to find more historic objects. It is important to know how much a site has been disturbed, because that can affect how we need to study the site.
I hope you enjoyed learning about the pedestrian survey of the 2024 observatory site, and if you are interested in learning more there are plenty of resources on this website about the history of the site and our work here.
This past summer, the Campus Archaeology program had the opportunity to offer a field school to archaeology students from MSU and across the state—our first field school since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Directly taking part in ongoing CAP research into life in the …
Campus Archaeology had an exciting summer field season, from the archaeological field school to field crew work across campus. We also hosted a class for Grandparent’s University and painted the MSU Rock! Below you can read more about each project. Archaeological Field School This summer …
While the ground may be covered with inches of snow, CAP is looking ahead to plan for summer construction, in addition to our undergraduate archaeological field school.
As you would have read in a previous blog post, the field school will be taking place near the corner of Shaw and Hagadorn Roads by Holmes Hall. We will be working there from May 13th through June 7th. Stay tuned for the announcement of our public open house day!
There are several construction projects slated to begin this summer!
First, Munn Ice Arena will be under construction for an expansion along the south side of the building. This construction will create a new public “front door” that will include an area for a memorabilia exhibit, additional concessions, new office space, among many other improvements! For this project, we will perform both a pedestrian and shovel test survey of the area before the construction begins, as well as monitor for archaeological remains during the construction process.
The second major construction project for this summer is the new sewer line being put in behind the Brody Complex. If you did not know, the Brody Complex is at the location of a historic East Lansing dump. While this project is being run by the City of East Lansing, not MSU, we are still planning on being present during the excavation phase of construction, as there is a high probability of artifacts being uncovered. This is a great opportunity for CAP to recover artifacts for use in teaching and as well as comparative items.
Third, it is possible that Cowles House, otherwise known as the President’s House, will undergo an addition and site renovations. As we were informed about this project last spring, we have already conducted both a pedestrian survey and a shovel test survey of the potentially impacted area. If this project begins this summer, you will find us monitoring the construction for any archaeological materials.
Finally, a project is slated to begin in the summer of 2020, expanding the south river trail between Bogue Street and Farm Lane, adding a bike path similar to one that exists near the Stadium. For this project, we will conduct shovel tests this summer in preparation for the construction, and will monitor the work in 2020.
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Author: Autumn Painter
Still searching for an archaeology field school for this summer? The Campus Archaeology Program will be offering a field school—right here on MSU’s campus—from May 13 to June 7, 2019. A field school is one of the best ways to learn what it takes to …
Chris Stawski was involved with Campus Archaeology at its inception, beginning as an archaeological technician in the summer of 2008. Chris also held the position of Campus Archaeologist during the 2010-2011 academic year. During his tenure with CAP, he was a …
This summer was an eventful one for the Campus Archaeology Program field crew! We monitored construction, conducted several pedestrian and shovel test surveys, excavated one test unit, conducted lab analysis, and helped with the IB STEM archaeology camp and grandparents university. Plus, we uncovered an entire cow skeleton! Below you can read in more detail about each project.
Continue reading Summer 2018 Recap
While archaeologists are trained in a number of different skills and techniques, there is one thing that all archaeologists know and love: shovels. Shovels are just as much a part of archaeology as the ubiquitous trowel, and even lend their name to the title of …
